


Alliance

by shakespeareaddict



Series: The Fourteenth Auxiliary Infantry [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: AU, Gen, Military, Minor Character Death, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-02
Updated: 2015-11-02
Packaged: 2018-04-29 12:21:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5127401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shakespeareaddict/pseuds/shakespeareaddict
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three years ago, Fire Lord Ozai burned, disowned, and unnamed his only son, sending the boy off to the army.</p><p>Now, Lieutenant Lee of the Fire Nation is just trying to pick up much-needed supplies for his Captain, when his unit is attacked outside Gaipan, and their blasting jelly stolen. Lee doesn't know what the thieves are planning to do with it, but he'll do anything in his power to keep his people safe--including making an unlikely ally.</p><p>Second in a series; begins right after the Freedom Fighters' first appearance in Book One, Chapter Ten: "Jet".</p>
            </blockquote>





	Alliance

**Author's Note:**

> This might not make sense if you haven't read "Disgraced", the first part of the series, which acts as a sort of prologue more than anything.
> 
> I'm predicting this won't be more than three chapters, as it's meant to be an introduction into the alternate world I started with the first story. I've got ideas for further stories in the series that will progressively alter canon more and more and continue to play with both canon and original characters.
> 
> Also, if it's not clear, "Lee" is the former Prince Zuko. As you can tell, three years in the army has made him different from the familiar season one Zuko we all know and love.

“Let me get this straight,” Lee said, pinching the bridge of his nose to keep the growing headache at bay. “I was gone for _twenty minutes_ , and in that time, a group of children attacked the camp, knocked everyone out, stole the blasting jelly and most of our food, and started a forest-fire that none of the _six trained firebenders_ here could put out?”

The sergeant in front of him squirmed nervously. “Um. Yes, sir?”

Lee squeezed his eyes shut.

Around them, order was restored to the trashed camp. The fires had all been put out, and the injured were mostly treated. There had only been one death; Private Somboon’s body was being tended to by his friends. Lee would have to lead the funeral alone. He’d seen the captain perform the rites often enough, he knew how to do it, but this was supposed to be a simple supply-gathering mission, and now a man was dead and there wasn’t a single reason for it.

Lee breathed in slowly for six counts, held it for four, and released for eight. He wasn’t much of a bender these days, but he still practiced the simpler forms when he could, the breathing exercises especially. And controlling one’s breath was useful for a lot of other things—swimming, meditating, not losing it in front of the entire division under you….

He opened his eyes again. The sergeant flinched, just a little. The scar had that effect on those who didn't know him well, and this sergeant was a new recruit, like most of his little squad.

“Go help the rest,” Lee said, deliberately softening his voice; he never wanted his soldiers to fear him. The sergeant—Han? Chan? Ashes, he had to make more of an effort with names—scampered away immediately. Lee raised his voice so everyone could hear him call out, “And start breaking camp, everyone! I want to get back to Gaipan before nightfall!”

“That bad?” a familiar voice asked, behind and to his right.

Lee turned to look at his best friend and fellow lieutenant. Benji was standing only a few feet away, helmet tucked under one arm, sweaty hair falling out of the messy topknot he’d half-assed that morning.

Lee shrugged. “They stole our blasting jelly. That was half our reason for coming out here in the first place.”

“And I thought Chung was crazy when she started talking about those kids she’s been having trouble with.” Benji half-turned, tilting his head, waiting for Lee before walking out of camp and back into the trees.

“I’m still not convinced she was telling the truth.” Even so, Lee kept his eyes sweeping to his right, and hoped Benji was doing the same to his left, on Lee’s bad side; _someone_ had attacked camp while he and Benji were checking the traps to see if they'd caught any dinner, and _someone_ had cut through those traps before they got there. “A group of teens and children, sabotaging Army operations on the scale she’s been claiming? Not possible.”

Benji scoffed. Lee had to turn his head even to eye the profile of his friend. “What?”

“Oh, nothing. I’m just thinking about how Earth Kingdom generals were probably saying the same thing when their scouts came with word of _your_ exploits, Mister When-I-Was-Twelve-I-Became-The-Army’s-Best-Spy.”

Cheeks burning, Lee aimed a weak shove at Benji’s shoulder. “Shut up. I was fourteen, and I was never a spy.”

Thankfully, Benji let it drop, though Lee caught him smirking before he turned his face away once more. After another minute of quiet walking, Lee asked, “Where are we going, exactly?”

“There’s something you ought to see,” Benji said, voice suddenly grave. “I found some tracks, just up ahead.” He pointed with one gloved finger at a gap between the trees up ahead.

Lee sped up and squeezed between the trunks, finding himself suddenly in a wide swath of open space, not a clearing but certainly a noticeable gap in the trees, like a rough path that twisted out of sight in either direction, wide enough for two khomodo-rhinos to walk side-by-side. The underbrush here was trampled, and in a bare patch of dirt just in front of him were bootprints—and one massive paw-print with three toes.

Lee knelt down to inspect it more closely while Benji thrashed through the remaining undergrowth to stand beside him. “There weren’t too many distinct tracks near the camp,” he explained lowly. “This was the first clear print I found.”

Lee could only nod, trying to imagine the sort of animal that could make this kind of track. The ground was sunken at least six inches, and the circular footprint probably had a diameter of a foot and a half, at least. Whatever it was, it was huge.

“You’re sure this animal was with the rebels?” Lee asked, putting one hand on the dirt outside the print and one in the print. The dirt outside was loose, a little dusty, even. Inside was hard as sandstone and smooth as obsidian.

“I was more focused on the human tracks. There’s a spot in the back of the main pavilion where two saplings got flattened by something very large, and the boot prints led the same way.” Metal rustled against cloth; Benji was shrugging. “Either they were together, or one was following the other.”

Lee got to his feet carefully, looking back behind them and then to where the trail led. He wanted to follow it, to see for himself what was going on, but he couldn’t. He had a camp to oversee and a march back to Gaipan to start.

He turned back to Benji and cast a critical eye over his friend. Benji wore only the breastplate, gauntlets, and shin guards instead of the full set of mail, and the undershirt and pants, along with a pair of sturdy boots. All of it was scratched and dirty, but Lee didn’t doubt that the hunting knife on his hip was sharp and ready for use.

“How’s your tracking?”

Benji shrugged. “Not as good as yours, but I get by.”

“Get out of that armor, it's too noticeable and too noisy."

“Oh boy.” He pulled off the gauntlets and started on the clasps for the breastplate with deft fingers. “You’re serious?”

“Don’t engage them, whatever you do.” Lee knelt to pull Benji’s shin guards off, then gathered up the pieces of armor and stood back. “You’re on recon only. If you think you’re in too much danger, you _run_. Otherwise, stay as long as you can, learn as much as you can. We should be back at the base tomorrow at the latest. You’ll meet us there before nightfall. Understood?”

“Yes, sir,” Benji said with a sharp salute. He stepped up and gave Lee a quick hug, then leaned back with one hand on Lee’s armored shoulder. “Don’t wait up too long. And don’t let Chung get you down.”

“Get out of here.” Lee gave him a gentle push. “Trail’s getting cold.”

Benji smiled, taking a few steps backwards. “Agni and The Twins watch you,” he called, and then he turned and jogged away into the trees, following the path before him.

Lee started the trek back to camp, and hoped he hadn’t just lost another man.

* * *

Captain Bora Chung was lean and tall, like a sapling in a harsh winter. She kept her raven hair back in the tightest topknot Lee had seen outside of the Caldera, and her sword sharp enough to gut a fly-dragon. Her face was stern and often sour, but when Lee’s weary bunch stumbled into view of the garrison a half-hour after sunset, she was leaning against the gate with a particularly self-satisfied smirk.

“Well, look what the weasel-cat dragged in,” she purred. Lee wanted to punch that stupid grin right off her face. “Those kids catch you off-guard?”

Lee stopped a few feet in front of her and bowed low, officer to a higher-ranked officer from a different unit seeking aide. When he straightened he took off his helmet before speaking. “Captain Chung, I hate to impose on your hospitality so soon once more, but we were ambushed outside of town.”

“How bad was the damage?” She looked so gleeful about the whole thing, Lee was temporarily overcome with the urge to punch her. “Left your ears ringing? Maybe burned by your own fire, they like to do that. And I bet you lost all those supplies, too—”

“A man is dead, and all you can do is taunt us?”

That sobered Chung soon enough. “My apologizes. I did not realize.” She gave a short bow. “You are, of course, welcome here.”

Lee bowed again in thanks, and waved to his men. The gates to the small town opened at a signal from Chung, and they shuffled in wearily. The bower with the body of Private Somboon passed through while Lee stood beside Chung and counted his troops. When all nineteen still living passed through, he and Chung stepped in after them.

“May Raiden light the way for your friend’s spirit,” Chung murmured as they reached the door of the barracks a few streets away from Gaipan’s main gates. "The lieutenant seemed a good man."

Lee turned to stare up at her. “I’m sorry?”

“Second Lieutenant Hun? I don’t think I saw him.”

“Oh, no! Benji--Lieutenant Hun is fine,” he said quickly. “Private Somboon was killed. I sent him to follow the tracks after we got back. But your sympathy is much appreciated, Captain.”

“Ah. I see.” She led him to her office, keeping quiet until she had shut the door behind them. “I don’t think he’ll find anything of use,” she said bluntly, crossing to her desk and sitting down heavily behind it. “I’ve sent troops out after the tracks left by those terrorists before. The kids appear and disappear like ghosts; nothing’s ever come of it.”

“Is it possible they’re just covering up their trail?” Lee asked, taking the only other chair. Her office was not terribly big, and the chair rocked a little under him.

Chung shook her head. “Unlikely. I’ve thought of that myself, but we still haven’t found anything. If I didn’t know better I’d call them spirits.”

Lee widened his good eye, not hiding his surprise. He didn’t want to attribute anything to spirits if he could help it. Plenty of others had no such scruples, especially now that rumors of the Avatar’s return were spreading, but Chung had seemed too practical to do so. “Why don’t you think they’re spirits?”

“Have you ever heard of spirits stealing food, much less sweets?” she countered. “No, these are children—vicious children, slippery children, but children all the same.”

“Children who killed one of my men,” Lee remarked darkly, fixing his eyes on a tapestry on the right wall. It was a family tree of some sort, beautifully done. Tracing its elegant threads with his gaze was not as calming as he'd hoped.

“And eight of mine in as many months.” Papers rustled on her desk. “But I’ve heard rumors about you, Lieutenant, that say you were drafted at thirteen, if not younger, and now that I’ve met you I’m inclined to believe them. I can’t imagine you survived this long if you came in without any training whatsoever, and if your parents could train you, a few Earth Kingdom peasants could teach _their_ children how to hold a sword.”

“I know,” he bit out. He was so tense that if he was a normal firebender the wood of the chair’s arm would be smoking by now, but he had always been slow and by now he was hopelessly behind. “I’m not wondering where their training came from. I’m wondering where they are right now, and if they know what they did—and if they know, even if they are just a bunch of kids, I’d like to make them pay very dearly for this.” _And I’m wondering if I sent Benji after them to die._

“Get in line,” Chung said flatly.

Lee inclined his head with a wry smile, acknowledging her prior claim. She had lost more people to whoever these raiders were than he, and she outranked him. Besides, for all that he’d sent Benji to track the raiders, Lee and his people had bigger concerns. “In any case, they made off with most of our supplies,” he said carefully. “If Lieutenant Hun does find where these bandits are hiding, my unit won’t have time to stay and engage in any offensive actions against them.”

“And you need me to restock your unit again?” Chung guessed. Lee nodded. “I’m afraid I can’t do that, Lieutenant.”

“What?” Lee couldn’t keep the outburst back, but he bit his tongue before he could say anything outright offensive.

Chung sighed and leaned back in her chair. “Frankly, Gaipan’s having a lean harvest this year, and the few winter crops we can grow here won’t be enough to support the village and the garrison alike if we donate half our food to you. This is not a high priority area, so we can’t request any rations from the army, and our military resupply occurs twice yearly. We have no more blasting jelly until the boat from Ugai comes in two months. You’re welcome to wait here until then,” she added when Lee opened his mouth, perhaps seeing the anger in his good eye.

Lee swallowed what reply he was going to make. “I understand, Captain,” he said around the lump in his throat. “Your own people come first.”

Chung observed him carefully. “You’ve had a long day,” she said after a moment’s contemplation. “I’ll make sure everything’s ready for a service at dawn, and afterwards we can have a more thorough debriefing. Perhaps there’s something to be done after all.”

Lee made himself stand and look at her, forced his body to bow low. “Thank you, Captain,” he said simply. “It means a great deal to my men and me.”

He left Chung’s office and headed outside the garrison, into the small courtyard where some of his men were still milling about uncertainly. Lee slipped around the edges and through another door, coming out again in the abandoned training yard. Above him the stars wheeled in their eternal dance among the cold night sky, the moon a mere sliver of light in the darkness. Lee took deep breaths until his head cleared a little.

This was not the first mission that Lee had ever led, but it was the largest. Getting supplies for the rest of the Fourteenth while they held out their position defending a place of minor strategic importance against the Earth Kingdom Army should’ve been easy. It wasn’t exactly his fault that there was a band of raiders in the forest by the nearest garrison. Even so, he should’ve made sure his men stayed alert, insisted on stricter discipline. He shouldn’t have gone to check the traps himself, should've sent someone else to do it. He’d left his green troops alone, without even Benji there to watch after them, and now a man was dead and he’d lost all the supplies his Captain was holding out for.

Long ago, when Lee had had a different name, he had vowed to protect the whole Fire Nation to the best of his ability, starting with a group of raw recruits he’d never met. Now, Lee’s world had shrunk to the Fourteenth Auxiliary Infantry, from the greenest private to his experienced Captain. Lee had tried not to fail them, too.

Lee took another deep breath, then headed back to the courtyard to make sure the last of his unit was settled in for the night. Within, he was resolved to do whatever it took to salvage this mission and keep his unit safe.

He would not let any more of them down.


End file.
